![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8A2iwwN5OfIOJPPCjcr9b7UJC5IYIRMMaOIj5V258yIQRyVaWQEY1DhtVwZPp88OoZu8rmZ00CSg7PfmzdXW7LQ4bb5wzQWvpHKOq4aYf2v_LVyEdhzMWR-GWPqs_Be98WgKWVg8BR5A/s1600/0+Spiritual+Analysis+-+tiny.jpg)
SPIRITUAL ANALYSIS
The spiritual analysis on this small battle is extensive because there are lessons learned that are eternal. The defeat at Hormah also set a precedent for the conditions for certain defeat in the future, which will be observed again and again. This analysis is therefore a sort of template for other military disasters rooted in the same conditions that Hormah was.
The disaster was rooted in a wrong assumption They assumed that if Moses had sent spies before with God’s blessing, surely it would be OK to do it again. The people failed to take God’s timing into account. What God has for one season may not be the right thing for the next season.
GOD CANNOT DO IT ALONE
After God had rebuked the people, even though they continued to be sure of victory something had changed. Their assurance was not faith, it was presumption. They panicked when they had realized the moral implication of having doubted God.
They thought they could conjure up “fast food” faith and take the hill that God told them not to. They had been defeated because of having lost communion with God. They were not able to carry out their task even though it was what He wanted for them. God cannot work without our participation. Faith has always mixed in.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it .
If the faith is added, then, no matter how small the faith and how big the obstacle – in this case heavy fortifications and giants – then God will deliver us.
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
God cannot do it alone when we have something to bring to the table. God is interested in a relationship with us and we need to “break bread” with Him at the table for that to work.
FAITH THROUGH PERPETUAL MOTION
When the spirit gives us a vision it is to act on it. We must add our faith to what God’s plan for us is. We need to use the faith to take the first step and it is then that we can take the second step.
During their march the Hebrews didn't know what lay in their path too far ahead. Nevertheless God asked them to submit to His servant Moses’ leading, to trust him and keep moving. Because we are mortal, if we were to see the final plan we might get scared and get out of God’s plan. If the Hebrews were told that what lay ahead was the conquest of the whole region of Canaan they might have been scared out of heir socks and quit.
Following God, and being in His perfect will is light and easy but requires our faith to be constantly stretched. By following steadily we will receive all the tools for all we need. To remain in motion is key.
When we move in a direction God can order our steps but if we stay stagnant there is nothing for Him to order or direct. The Christian life is always moving. Faith is always on the way to fulfilment of God’s plan.
Psalm 37:23-24
[23] The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord : and he delighteth in his way. [24] Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
God secures our step once we take it, preparing us for the next step. What is important is that we take the step for Him to be able to guide us.
Fear paralyses but faith moves. Faith never leads you to do nothing; it always leads us to do something.
Spiritual led people also stumble. In fact they stumble often because they are always moving. This is not to be confused with sinning to the point of losing their commission, which is what happened to the Hebrew people in the wilderness: the rebellious and doubtful generation that decided not to move lost the right to enter into the Promised Land.
The people “lingered in a place they were only meant to pass through. Using our faith will ensure we don't linger in a place we should only pass through.” (Nancy Dufresne).
WAGES of SIN
They’ve been talking wrong the whole time. God made them to wonder. They repented but it was too late. They didn't wan the punishment. They decided to go up the hill without the anointing. They were presumptuous when they assumed God was going to anoint them. They were acting for the wrong reasons out of desperation and not conviction. All along God was telling them to stop. The time for attack, the opportunity, was gone. Again they didn't listen and were destroyed.
When we speak out of our head instead of our spirit and in desperation it fails. It is the separation between being World minded and God minded. That is why it is so important to live faith, have revelation and keep your heart right daily. When the times of trial come it is more difficult because you may be acting in panic and the prayers become going through the motions rather than activating the well grounded, built up and maintained truth.
The men that were responsible for inciting the revolt against Joshua and Caleb were struck by a place and died. Let us be clear that it was not God that brought this evil upon these men. Nothing but good can come from the Lord; evil is never from Him.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
But in a fallen world evil is constantly around us trying to make its way into our lives – into our thoughts and circumstances. What God does is keep that flood of evil from overtaking us. If we reject God then we have also rejected His protection. In Numbers 14 God did not say He was sending this plague to the men as punishment. What He was in fact saying was more like “look, you rejected my provision for you, so be it, this is what I know to be in store from you” (but it is not from God’s store).
The FORGOTTEN GLORY
It had been the people’s custom to take the ark of the covenant into battle. We know now that God lives in every heart that believes in Him through Jesus but, in that dispensation of the Law (after the 10 Commandments) God’s power was concentrated in the tabernacle which, when in transit, was housed in the ark. This was the glory of God. It is the glory of God that gives us the strength to fight against Satan, to fight against sin, temptation and adversity.
The people had already weakened their faith through unbelief. Now by by leaving the ark behind people left behind the glory – the power, the weapon – which they needed for victory.
In any case their doom was assured regardless of this. Moses told them not to fight and they ignored him.
WHY GOD WAS SO GRIEVED
The offence that sending out the 12 spies is a subtle one when you read these chapters in Numbers without pausing. God was grieved even before the people accepted the bad report from the 10 pessimists. Just sending out the spies was a provocation to the Almighty. Why? What was so bad about sending out spies to explore the promised land?
God doesn't mind when we have knowledge in the natural. We can be prepared on all fronts but God wants our trust and focus to be Him. God had sent angels ahead of the people to protect them. The people, however, took it upon themselves and sent spies, grieving God and the angels. They did not trust God, grieved and provoked Him severely.
God didn't say that there is no weapon against us. He said no weapon formed against us will prosper (Isaiah 54:17). He didn't say there would be no fight, He said there would be victory. The Hebrews acted as if there was no weapon.
They also focused on the negative fear of the adversity in the Promised Land, rather than on God’s promises. They should have magnified God and not magnified the problem. Focusing on the world instead of God eventually will lead to focus on the negative because the world itself has no life except that one that is given to it by God.
The owness is not on God. He has already done everything for us. The owness is on us. If we provoke Him with our words (wrong words, lack of words) we loose our protection, our blessing, our faith even. This has nothing to do with forgiveness. That has been taken care of by Jesus. That Salvation is done. This is about salvation on the earth. His glory is for today. In other words, the Promised Land was there, no mater what. What the Hebrews needed was victory on this battle.
We must simply follow and keep faith. Like Caleb, we will never fit in when we have faith. We’ll be outcasts among the world and brethren unless they are people of faith as well.
Sending out the spies was the undoing of a journey that should have lasted 40 days and instead would last 40 years.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS of TRUSTING GOD
When you do not trust God with the little things it will be hard to trust Him with the big. The Hebrews missed this point completely and insisted that spies be sent out.
The land was good because God had declared it was good, no mater what the people saw in the natural. This is why God was angry at people who, instead of trusting His promises for the land, went only by what facts their reconnaissance had gathered. God gave enough assurance to take the land. He allowed the spies but it was not His perfect will. Furthermore, sending out spies hurt their faith.
The reality is that it was not Sending out the spies that caused the wait in the wilderness but it was because of that. For if the spies had not been sent out to reassure the people they would not have grumbled against the report and Korah would not have caused the rebellion that condemned them.
PRINCIPLES of TRUSTING GOD
1. God provides everything; He went before us and paid everything.
2. Keep our words right so we can enter into what He paid for; keep them in agreement with God and not sabotage the blessings.
3. Stand on the Word from the beginning. Don’t consult the natural (sending spies); trust Him daily in the little things.
4. Leading by the Holy Spirit. If we try to figure it out on our own we keep ourselves from entering the promises or, even best case scenario is we’re delayed in entering.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
After the first rebellion which followed the spies return Moses asked God to forgive the people for their sin, reminding Him of His nature: slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.
This is known as the prayer of intercession. It is defined by standing in the gap in place of another who have provoked judgement on themselves (and the actual execution of that judgement). It is prayer to hold back judgement. It is especially powerful because we are partnering up with God in prayer and it moves things that would not be moved otherwise.
In today’s dispensation of grace, after Jesus, for us to effectuate such prayer then the Holy Spirit must come on us to intercede. It is he who begins the process and we respond. When we have a burden to pray for someone who’s soul is lost we often feel lost ourselves.
To the spirit filed Christian there are three levels of intercession:
1. In his native language.
2. In tongues.
3. In groanings and travail.
The more we pray on the second level the better we get into the third level. It cannot be conjured, it is an anointing that comes on us. We pass to another level by practicing the previous level much.
Groanings are inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is helping us in intercession with groanings in tongues. Travail always leads to groaning or it is not travail. It has nothing to do with our soul. It is all spirit man. Therefore it is not an emotional manifestation even if it seems that way. The Holy Spirit is not responsible for our prayer life. He tells us to pray and we do so through our spirit man, not our brain.
Tongues is speaking inarticulate words; it is a deeper form of prayer. Groaning is an inarticulate tongues; it is a deeper form of tongues.
ON LOCATION
Central Negev south-east of Kadesh-Barnea
Wilderness of Zin; Negev Nuclear Research Centre, near ancient south Canaan boundary
Wilderness of Zin; Tlalim Army Base,
Northern Negev near near ancient south entry to Canaan
Midreshet Ben Gurion, south of Be’er Sheba, near ancient south entry to Canaan
Hormah would have been on an area like this; leaving the Negev by Abraham's Ascent.
What the notorious hill may have looked like.
Area south of Arad. Zone of much activity throughout history. During the wilderness march this was the probable location of the fortifications and giants that scared the spies
North of Arad. This is where they fortifications began. Later in history this is often mentioned as Israel’s southern border area. This is where God always wanted the kingdom to begin after the Ten Commandments. This is where the people failed and they were afraid to going to the kingdom. We can see the natural barriers where the fortifications would be built along this range.
Spies would've seen the rich plantations but they were afraid of the fortifications. Today we still see it's rich arable land.
TIMELINE
All timeline dates prior to 664 BC are based on Rohl’s New Chronology. Refer to our chapter “Chronological Discrepancies” for clarification.